My new EX controller is set to arrive this afternoon! While I’m not so patiently waiting for the UPS truck to pull up, I thought I’d sanity check on motion calibration in the EX software. I used @jjneeb 's excellent video on calibrating steps/units in Mach4 and that was very similar (but better with the caliper trick) to step calibration I’ve done in other systems like grbl, etc. I also watched Jim’s video on linearity tuning. I just want to be super clear before I dive in after the migration - is the linearity tuning in EX/CNC12 essentially the same as calculating steps per unit in Mach4?
If so, other than that and the backlash tuning that @jjneeb also has an excellent video on, is there anything else I should have on my calibration checklist after the migration?
You actually don’t need to do any of this unless you have a very specific use case. (Jims is high precision laser work that requires some super fine tuning to get each line of the laser raster to line up just so)
Our engineers worked very hard to make sure this is all setup for you in software so you can just assemble your machine and go!
Awesome! Doing the steps in Mach4 using Jim’s method I measured about a .015" under travel on the y axis with mach4, so recalculating a couple of times got that taken care of but the x axis as spot on with no changes. Not sure if there’s a physical issue with the Y axis causing that, but tuning the steps seemed to work. I think I’ll at least do a quick test with the caliper method once I get everything migrated to see if I’m off - I think it will be super interesting to see if it’s off in the same way on the same axis.
Ya, as Eric said the machine settings come set pretty good - good enough for most any woodworking like cutting sheets. I would spend time getting used to CNC12 and the EX controller workflow for a while first. They are pretty different.
If you are doing precision joints (dovetails, mortise and tennon joints, etc.) , or laser pictures, then do the calibration after you get used to the system. The calibration process is basically the same on the EX as it was in mach4.
@Eric so today I cut some slots for plywood, and they came out about 1.7mm larger on Y (designed 18.5 came out 20.2mm) and 1mm on X (101mm, cut 102mm). I’ll do a couple of tests with calipers tomorrow to see if it’s repeatable and get better measurements, but I feel like that’s enough slop to adjust for, no?
This sounds like a cutting strategy issue. I highly recommend you look at your feeds and speeds and hold down. Re-tuning the machine is not recommended.
Plywood (baltic) was screwed down to the spoil board. Total of 8 slots across most of the cutting envelope of the machine, every single one measured between 20.19mm and 20.21mm on an 18.46mm design from vcarve. All were pocket tool paths with a 1/8" downcut, 140 ipm 70 plunge with a ramp. I hope you’re right and it’s something I’m doing vs machine issue. Happy to open a support ticket and upload the gcode for review. Any initial suggestions for feeds and speeds that would cause a very specific and consistent over cut in these pockets?